Privacy Policy

LAST UPDATED: 17th July, 2026.

I am Sarah Barker, trading as Counselling with Sarah. I am a Psychotherapeutic Counsellor offering Face to Face, Walk and Talk and Online counselling sessions for individuals. I am responsible for how your information is stored and used.

COLLECTION OF YOUR DATA

When you initially contact me, I may take your name, email address, telephone number and your reasons for reaching out for counselling.

When we have our Introductory Session, I may take information regarding your personal history, relationships, work, family situation, hopes for counselling, medication, and details regarding your emotional health. If we choose to work together, I will take your address, date of birth, GP details, emergency contact details if relevant, brief session notes, attendance, payment and any emails, texts or whatsapp messages between us. I will only take information that is essential.

HOW I USE YOUR DATA

I use your personal data to:

- respond to enquiries

- arrange/change sessions

- provide therapy

- keep session notes

- receive payments

- meet legal, professional and ethical responsibilities

- maintain insurance, tax and accounting records

- respond to data protection requests or complaints

I DO NOT SELL YOUR INFORMATION

This information is required for 

- CONTACT where information is required to arrange and provide therapy

- LEGITIMATE INTERESTS where I need to use information to run my practice safely, respond to enquiries, keep necessary records and protect both you and me

- LEGAL OBLIGATION where I need to keep or share information to comply with the law

If I need to share your information outside of the confidentiality agreement, I will tell you and keep you updated if need be.

SUPERVISION

My supervision is a part of the confidentiality agreement and ensures I continuously work safely and ethically for both you and me. If I speak about you during supervision, they will know your first name and what I need to talk to them about and that is all. They will not have access to your session notes or any personal information that I have stored.

SESSION NOTES

I keep very brief notes of each session including date, a brief outline of what we talked about, any safeguarding issues we may have discussed and any actions or important decisions we have made. I do not record or keep a full transcript of our sessions. I am required by my insurance to store the session notes for 5 years from the date of our last session together but any emails, texts or whatsapp messages are deleted once our time together has come to an end. In the case of a any legal action or complaints made, these records may be kept for longer.

WHERE YOUR INFORMATION IS STORED

- Website which is hosted by Godaddy. The website may use cookies to help the site work more efficiently, improve the performance of the site, understand visitor behaviour so I can make any relevant changes and support security. You can control what data is collected through your own browser.

- Email which is operated by Gmail and are deleted when our time together comes to an end.

- Session notes are stored on Writeupp which is GDPR compliant. They do not have access to your information under any circumstances

- Online sessions take place using Microsoft Teams and are never recorded. I ask that any online sessions are made in a safe and private space where you cannot be overheard or interrupted.

- Payments are made through bank transfer and if I am audited, your name may appear on the bank statements

- Phone/messages are made on a work only phone through telephone calls, texting, whatsapp.

My devices are password protected and/or face recognition. The external providers I use are GDPR approved and have the required data security protection. 

WALK AND TALK THERAPY

If we hold our sessions outdoors, I will talk to you about confidentiality as I cannot guarantee the same level of privacy as I do in the garden room. You can decide how you wish to manage the conversation if we meet anyone on our walks; some choose to continue the conversation others wish to stop talking until we have passed the person.

USE OF AI

I do not use AI in any aspect of my business or to process any session notes. Many people are now using AI for additional support with their emotional and mental wellbeing. This may be helpful in the short term but AI does not have the ability to know you as a person, is unable to offer safety and cannot recognise if you are at risk of harm. AI is also not confidential as it stores what you share and may use the information without your consent. Although AI is not a part of how I work, I do invite you to bring your use of AI into our sessions so we can explore how it is affecting you and what we are doing together.

SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

I will not share your personal information unless I absolutely have to, this includes:

- my supervisors

- professional advisors such as an insurer or legal advisor

- my membership body in the case of a complaint or ethical matter

- emergency services such as GP or 999 if you are taken ill or there is a risk to your safety or a serious offence has been committed

- a court or legal authority if required by law

- my clinical will executor in the case of my being taken ill or if I die

- trusted digital service providers

CLINICAL WILL

Client names, email addresses and session days/times are stored on Clinical Will App and is only stored whilst you are using my services. I have a trusted colleague who, in the event of my death or me being taken seriously ill is able to access to this information only so they can let you know what is going on and keep you informed of any changes. My executor will not have access to any of your other data stored.

YOUR RIGHTS

Under the UK law, you have the rights over your personal information and have the right to ask to see it at any time. Your rights may include:

- how your data is stored

- to see what is actually stored

- ask for any mistakes to be corrected

- ask for information to be deleted in certain circumstances

- complain about how your information has been handled

These rights are not absolute and depend on the circumstances you are asking for them.

If any of the above applies to you, please email counsellingwithsarah@gmail.com and I will acknowledge receipt of your email within 30 days. 

If you have a complaint about how your information is stored or how I have handled it, you can make a Data Protection complaint by contacting me sing the above email address. Please include the following information:

- your name

- what your concern is about

- what you would like me to look into

- how you would prefer me to respond

I will investigate and keep you informed where necessary and let you know the outcome as soon as I can. If you are not happy with my response, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office; their details are:

www.ico.org.uk or telephone 0303 123 1113

This notice may be updated if required.